The Theories of Darwin and Their Relation to Philosophy, Religion, and Morality | Page 3

philosophic thought in Germany, and, indeed, wherever it has been read in its original form, has led the translator to believe that an English version of it would be acceptable. Especially in America, where religious problems and religious thought are so intimately connected with the processes of scientific and philosophic investigation, and where the agitation of these problems is so peculiarly active and violent, it has seemed that a work marked by so much scholarship, profundity, and comprehensiveness and originality of treatment, must serve an important purpose to the cause of religious no less than of scientific truth. It may be explained here, that the author resided for some years in the family of the Duke of Argyll, and there breathed, to a certain extent, the scientific air of Darwinism in its very origin; and thus his familiarity with all the results of modern scientific research, added to his theological and philosophical acquirements, enable him, with a most admirable blending of the spirit of fairness and toleration with logical severity of treatment, to bring these different domains into their proper relation with each other and to establish between them that essential harmony in which consists the solution of these most profound and vital problems of man's welfare.
Of the translation it may properly be said that, while the aim has been to give the work the clearest possible form consistent with that strict fidelity to the original which is {8} especially demanded by the character of its material, the translator has not hoped to make the work altogether "easy" reading. Peculiarities of the author's style have been, it is believed, largely preserved; and occasional difficulties of apprehension are no doubt to be expected, both from the method of treatment and from the profound and abstruse character of the topics treated. The translator will be well satisfied if it shall be found that he has succeeded in performing his task without adding unduly to the seeming obscurities of certain passages--obscurities which, however, will no doubt vanish before that degree of mental application without which such works may not be read at all intelligibly.
Acknowledgments are properly due and are gladly rendered to George C. Dawson, Esq., of Chicago, and to Mr. Francis F. Browne, editor of The Dial, for valuable assistance in revising and perfecting this version.
G. A. Z.
CHICAGO, October, 1882.
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CONTENTS.
INTRODUCTION ... 17
PART FIRST: THE DARWINIAN THEORIES.
BOOK I. THE PURELY SCIENTIFIC THEORIES.
The Scientific Problem, ... 23
CHAPTER I.
RISE OF THE DARWINIAN THEORIES.
��1. Direct Predecessors, ... 30 ��2. Indirect Preparations, ... 33
CHAPTER II.
HISTORY OF THE DARWINIAN THEORIES.
��1. Darwin, ... 38 ��2. The Followers of Darwin.--Ernst H?ckel, ... 45 ��3. Modifications of the Theory.--Moriz Wagner. Wigand, ... 52
CHAPTER III.
PRESENT STATE OF THE DARWINIAN THEORIES.
��1. The Theory of Descent, ... 61 ��2. The Theory of Evolution.--Arch?ology, Ethnography, Philology, ... 77 ��3. The Theory of Selection, ... 100
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BOOK II. THE PHILOSOPHIC COMPLETIONS AND CONSEQUENCES OF THE DARWINIAN THEORIES.
The Philosophic Problems, ... 108
CHAPTER I.
THE NATURO-PHILOSOPHIC SUPPLEMENTS OF THE DARWINIAN THEORIES.
��1. The Origin of Self-Consciousness and of Free Moral Self-Determination, ... 115 ��2. The Origin of Sensation and of Consciousness, ... 127 ��3. The Origin of Life, ... 132 ��4. The Elements of the World; the Theory of Atoms, and the Mechanical View of the World, ... 140
CHAPTER II.
METAPHYSICAL CONCLUSIONS DRAWN FROM THE DARWINIAN THEORIES.
��1. Elimination of the Idea of Design in the World.--Monism, ... 158
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PART SECOND: THE POSITION OF THE DARWINIAN THEORIES IN REFERENCE TO RELIGION AND MORALITY.
BOOK I. HISTORICAL AND CRITICAL.
Plan of Treatment, ... 185
A. THE DARWINIAN THEORIES AND RELIGION.
CHAPTER I.
MORE OR LESS NEGATIVE POSITION IN REFERENCE TO RELIGION.
��1. Extreme Negation: L. B��chner and Consistent Materialism, ... 188 ��2. Replacement of Religion Through a Religious Worship of the Universe.--Strauss. Oskar Schmidt. H?ckel, ... 190 ��3. Pious Renunciation of the Knowability of God. Wilhelm Bleek. Albert Lange. Herbert Spencer, ... 193 ��4. Spinoza and Hegel in the Garb of Darwin.--Carneri, Ed. von Hartmann, ... 203 ��5. Re?cho of Negation on the Side of the Christian View of the World, ... 206
CHAPTER II.
REFORM OF RELIGION, OR AT LEAST OF THE SCIENCE OF RELIGION, THROUGH DARWINISM.
��1. Heinrich Lang. Friedrich Vischer. Gustav J?ger, ... 210
CHAPTER III.
PEACE BETWEEN RELIGION AND DARWINISM.
��1. Darwin. Wallace. Owen. Asa Gray. Mivart. McCosh. Anderson. K. E. von Baer. Alexander Braun. Braubach, and others, ... 217
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B. THE DARWINIAN THEORIES AND MORALITY.
Preliminary View, ... 228
CHAPTER IV.
ANTAGONISM BETWEEN DARWINISM AND MORALITY.
��1. Objections to Darwinism from an Ethical Standpoint, ... 230
CHAPTER V.
REFORM OF MORALITY THROUGH DARWINISM.
��1. The Materialists and Monists. Darwin and the English Utilitarians. Gustav J?ger, ... 233
CHAPTER VI.
NEUTRALITY AND PEACE BETWEEN DARWINISM AND MORALITY.
��1. Mivart. Alexander Braun, and others, ... 245
BOOK II. ANALYTICAL.
Preliminary View, ... 249
A. THE DARWINIAN THEORIES AND RELIGION.
CHAPTER I.
THE DARWINIAN THEORIES AND THE THEISTIC VIEW OF THE WORLD.
a. The Position of Purely Scientific Darwinism in Reference to Theism.
��1. Scientific Investigation and Theism.--The Idea